CDC reports 3 more measles cases in central Taiwan hospital cluster

Taipei, Jan. 10 (CNA) The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Friday reported three new measles cases linked to a hospital cluster in central Taiwan, bringing the total number of confirmed infections in the cluster to 19.

The CDC emphasized that the infections remain confined to hospital contacts with no evidence of the outbreak spreading.

In the three new cases, a woman in her 30s, a man in his 20s, and a man in his 40s, developed symptoms between Jan. 1 and 6, with rashes developing from Jan. 3 to 7, according to a CDC news release.

All three new cases had been previously identified as close contacts, the CDC said, adding that the woman and the man in his 20s are medical personnel at the hospital -- which has not been disclosed by authorities -- and the man in his 40s visited a family member in the same ward, a previously confirmed case.

As of Friday, a total of 19 confirmed measles cases connected to the hospital cluster had been reported, with the newly confirmed cases remaining confined to contacts within the hospital and "no indication of the outbreak expanding," the news release read.

Regarding the route of transmission in the hospital cluster, CDC Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that the index case -- the first documented patient in the cluster -- traveled back from Vietnam on Dec. 1 last year.

The patient developed a fever on the same day, visited the emergency department on Dec. 2, and was subsequently admitted to a hospital ward, Chuang said at a news briefing on Friday.

"It wasn't until Dec. 5 that the patient began to develop a rash, and a suspected measles diagnosis was made on Dec. 6, leading to (the patient's) transfer to an isolation ward," he said.

The man in his 40s, who lives in central Taiwan, was diagnosed with the measles on Dec. 6, according to the CDC.

During his time in the emergency department and the general ward from Dec. 2 to 6, the index case came into contact with medical staff, other patients, and their visitors, resulting in a total of nine confirmed infections, Chuang said.

A patient who stayed in the same ward as the index case and later became infected was temporarily transferred to another general ward, leading to seven additional contacts being infected there, he said.

Chuang noted that all 17 patients infected in the hospital had received measles vaccines. However, he did not specify whether the index case or another case -- a contact who was on the same flight back to Taiwan as the index case -- had been vaccinated.

"If you have received two doses of a (measles) vaccine, even if you later become infected with measles, the viral load in your body is actually very low," Chuang said.

He pointed out that the basic reproduction number for hospital cluster cases is below 1, indicating that the ability of those patients to continue spreading the virus is reduced due to vaccination.

"The transmissions were limited to the first or second wave and did not continue further ... meaning there is no indication of the outbreak expanding," Chuang said.